Restaurant Guide 2008

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This is likely to be the some of the best sushi, the best sashimi, that you experience anywhere near Portland—though unless you live past the West Hills, you’re in for a hell of a trek. It’s worth it. In a half-sunken, hardwood sushi-and-sake bar elegant in its understatedness, beyond rock fountains at the stairs, the fish is as fresh and as tender as it comes (even the octopus and squid yield gently), cut with superb knife skills into slender nigiri. But don’t stop there; the octopus-cucumber kimuchi is an explosion of spice, and the beef dishes are served rare and sliced so thinly it’s like inhaling beef-flavored air—which, in case you were wondering, is a good thing. The deep menu of imported sake (including fruit sakes) will ensure you can take in all the rare spirits you’d like. Treat each fish also as a new wine, and tax the chef and server’s vocabulary until you develop your own.

IDEAL MEAL: The Super Deluxe Sushi Plate, which should provide a solid baseline for two people, plus some pumpkin tempura. Then get as deep into the sake menu as you can, remembering you still have to somehow get home.